Loving Classical Music

One of the best TED vids yet...

Straight Talk About Energy

Straight Talk About Energy:

"...when it comes to energy politics, we have failed to meet the enemy and conclude that it is us. Remember how Jimmy Carter was ridiculed and reviled for putting on a sweater and telling us to lower our thermostats? Well, what if we had done so three decades ago rather than a few months ago?"

George Carlin - You can’t be afraid of words that speak the truth.

From George...

“You can’t be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Because Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent a kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it. And it gets worse with every generation. For some reason it just keeps getting worse…

And we have no more old people in this country. No more old people. We shipped them all away and we brought in these senior citizens. Isn’t that a typically American twentieth century phrase? Bloodless. Lifeless. No pulse in one of them. A senior citizen. But I’ve accepted that one. I’ve come to terms with it. I know it’s here to stay. We’ll never get rid of it. But the one I do resist, the one I keep resisting, is when they look at an old guy and say, “Look at him Dan, he’s ninety years young.” Imagine the fear of aging that reveals. To not even be able to use the word old to describe someone. To have to use an antonym.

And fear of aging is natural. It’s universal, isn’t it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die. But we do. So we con ourselves. I started conning myself when I got in my forties. I’d look in the mirror and say, “Well…I guess I’m getting …older.” Older sounds a little better than old, doesn’t it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. I’m getting old. And it’s okay. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won’t have to die. I’ll pass away. Or I’ll expire, like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they’ll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient care outcome. And if it’s the result of malpractice they’ll say it was a therapeutic misadventure.”

You can get anything at Amazon...

...including "used" Metamucil.

GONZO

Upcoming documentary on the life and work of the premier hyperactive observer and hyperbolic truth-teller of politics of the last 40 years...


...Hunter S. Thompson.

Imagine what he would have done with the recent Democratic primary and Old Man McCain.

An epitaph from the time of his death in 2005...

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - HST

Think I'll open that 2002 Heitz Cellars Zinfandel I've been holding

New Hints Seen That Red Wine May Slow Aging - NYTimes.com

Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs.

[Later: Corked pulled, nose hit with fruit immediately. First sip a bit of tannin, but just a bit. Then nice, deep flavor. Great with slice of broccoli rabe and ricotta pizza with a few dabs of red sauce. Red wines almost always go better with food.]

[Still later: 3rd glass sublime and mellow. Or is that just me? To be resumed with some BBQ ribs later for dinner.]

They say bad things happen in threes...

Harvey Korman, Yves St. Laurent, and today, Bo Diddly...


Gone but not forgotten.

A Meditation

Take a break and Emerge.